Lies His Parents Told Him
by Lorne The Host
Summary: Set after Lies My Parents Told Me. Xander can't take the same lies anymore.
1. Lies His Parents Told Him

"Lies His Parents Told Him"  
  
Disclaimer: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" belongs to Joss Whedon, UPN, and Twentieth Century Fox.  
  
Spoilers: "Lies My Parents Told Me"  
  
Category: Angst/Drama  
  
Pairing: Buffy/Spike  
  
Summary: Xander's had enough of the same old lies.  
  
Author's Note: The idea for the story came to me after I watched "Lies My Parents Told me," but I forgotten about it until I read the book version of season seven.  
  
An eight-year old boy lay frightened in his room, the sounds of his father's shouting coming up through the floor. He heard the crack of his dad's belt as it was indisputably smacked across his mom's face. The boy squeezed his eyes shut and prayed to God that his father would get caught or get what he deserved. After all, Uncle Rory was always saying 'What goes around, comes around.' The eight-year old Xander Harris wondered why the beatings hadn't come around to his father yet.  
  
The door crashed open and his dad, Tony Harris, stood in the threshold. "Alex, get your fucking ass over here. Now, goddamn it."  
  
Xander slowly crept forward. "What were you and your damn mother doing when I got home?"  
  
The eight-year old boy looked up into his father's and said, "Making you a birthday cake."  
  
"Wrong fucking answer!" His papa yelled. The belt was suddenly being brought down on him. "No son of mine is going to be some cake making faggot!" his father roared as repeatedly brought his belt down on the boy.  
  
Tears started coming out of Xander's eyes but this only made his dad madder. "Stop your fucking crying. Boys don't fucking cry!"  
  
His father gave him a good kick before he left the room. His mother sneaked into the bedroom. Her left eye was bruised and her lip was bloody and she had tears in her eyes but she put on a small smile for Xander. She pulled him closer and began whispering the same thing over and over again. "It'll be oaky, he'll be different. It'll be oaky, he'll be different." But he never was different.  
  
*************************************************************  
  
A 22-year old Xander Harris made his way down one of the many hospital corridors towards the room at the end of the hall. His father's room. The old man had had a stroke and was slowly dying. Xander had been surprised when Uncle Rory had called and said that his father had asked him. He made the turn into the room and stopped.  
  
The man lying in the bed was not the same man who used to beat him and his mother. His was thinner, grayer, and older, almost pathetic looking. "You wanted to see me," Xander called, not moving from the doorway.  
  
His father slowly moved his head in Xander's direction. "Come here," he croaked.  
  
Xander cautiously made his way over to the bed. "What do you want?"  
  
"I want you to know that I couldn't be any less proud of you if I tried. I just thought my son would like to know that." The old man grinned and Xander suddenly felt like a child again. Alone and frightened.  
  
"I am not your son," Xander managed to say.  
  
"Oh really," his dad drawled. "Then who the fuck is."  
  
Xander swallowed nervously. "His name is Rupert Giles. You may have helped bring me into this world, but that man showed me how to live in it."  
  
Anger flashed across his dad's face. "Why you ungrateful son of a bitch!" He tried to hit Xander but the young man moved out of his reach.  
  
"You never change," Xander mumbled. "Mom always promised that you were going different. But you never were."  
  
"So the ungrateful whore lied to ya," his father said. "So fucking what?"  
  
Xander looked at his father with pure hate written on his face. "Fuck you!" he shouted. His dad looked generally shocked but recovered quickly.  
  
"Look who decided to grow a pair," he taunted. Xander couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed a pillow off the spare bed and started towards his father. "What the hell do you think your doing, boy?" his father barked.  
  
Xander pounced on top of his father smothering him with the pillow. He didn't stop until the beeping of his heart monitor stopped. Xander crawled off the bed and returned the pillow to the separate bed. "It's over now," he muttered to himself as he left the room.  
  
*************************************************************  
  
Giles stared at the door that Buffy had just closed in his face. "I can't bloody believe it," he whispered.  
  
"Believe what?" Xander's voice questioned.  
  
Giles turned around to see the young man standing at the end of the hallway. "Nothing. How'd your meeting with your father go?"  
  
"He's dead."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Died while I was talking to him."  
  
"That must have been a shock."  
  
"Not really. I kind of saw it coming."  
  
Giles nodded. "What's with Buff?" Xander queried as he motioned his head towards Buffy's door.  
  
"Oh, um, she's a bit," he struggled to find the right word, "pissed at me and Robin."  
  
"How come?"  
  
Giles told Xander the nights events staring with Robin coming up with the plan and ending with Buffy closing the door in Giles's face. "She loves him," Giles murmured.  
  
"I know," Xander said.  
  
Giles started walking towards his room but Xander called after him. "Yes?"  
  
"How did she defend Spike this time?"  
  
"The usual," Giles sighed. "He has a soul now. He'll be different."  
  
Xander's eyes flashed at 'He'll Be Different'. "Goodnight, Xander," Giles said.  
  
Xander jumped. "Goodnight, Giles."  
  
The older man walked into his bedroom. Xander slowly crept down to the basement where Spike was sleeping. "Spike, are you awake?" Xander called out to the vampire.  
  
The British vamp emerged from the shadows. "Yeah. What do you want?"  
  
"Come here," Xander called.  
  
Spike slowly made his way towards Xander. "Harris what is this bloody about?"  
  
The vampire stopped, now three feet away from Xander. "Buffy seems to think your good."  
  
"Because I am," Spike said defensively.  
  
"Maybe you are," Xander said, "but I know one thing that Buffy doesn't."  
  
"And what's that?" the vampire questioned.  
  
Xander rammed a stake into his heart. "Souls don't prevent sin." 


	2. The Choices We Make

"The Choices We Make"

Xander finished packing his bag. 'Seven years and you're throwing in the towel when your friends need you the most.' His father's vocie was just as clear as if he'd been standing next to him.

"I have to go," he said to no one in particular. He knew Buffy would never forgive him for what he had done. There was a knock at his door. "It's open," he called out.

Dawn entered. She took a look at his suitcase and said, "What's up?"

"Well,'' Xander began, "my dad died and I have to go away for the funeral."

'That's good,' his father's voice laughed. 'Use your old mans death to get the hell outta dodge. How'd I die again? Oh, right! You killed me!'

Xander plunged ahead. "What do you want?"

"Spike's missing and Buffy's worried."

'Oh that's rich,' Tony Harris cackled.

"Well I haven't seen him," Xander lied.

"O.K." Dawn urned away but said, "You're doing the right thing Xander."

"About what?"

"I saw. What you did to Spike," she said turning to face him. "You did what no one else would. And I forgive you. Even if she doesn't." With that she left.

As Xander made his way down the Summers stairs for the last time he heard a commotion in the living room. "How could you?" Buffy was screaming.

"I did what had to be done," Giles whispered back.

"You betrayed and everyone you claimed to love. Get the hell out of my house!"

"Buffy I-"

"NO! Giles you killed him! Now get the fuck outta my house!"

Xander looked in the room as Buffy gave Giles the death stare, Wood, Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, Andrew, and Anya looking on. "Very well," GIles sighed.

'Here's your chance,' Tony whispered in Xander's head. 'Run away like the coward you always were. Let your _'father'_ take the fucking fall! Why should you care right? It's not your problem anymore. Walk away and be just like me.'

"No," Xander breathed.

Buffy and the others looked over at Xander. "Yeah," Buffy choked out, "he killed Spike."

"No," Xander shook his head. "I did. I killed Spike."


End file.
